The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1887-07-16
VOLUME XXI.

Gated then, and by many of us in the
same way now. Again, the thumb wa.
thought to be endowed with foreknowl.
edge and peculiar degree of spiritual
consciousness. How else can we ac.
count for the exclamation of one of the
wierd sisters in Macbeth:
| BY the prcking Of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes"
Other writers make use of similar ex-
pressions implying this endowment.
The thumb is introduced into Eng.
lish speech and life in many ways.
The young child sucks his thumb, a
little older he reads Of Hop O. My
Thumb" as a school boy thumbs his
books, or as a girl thumbs over tune,
and the workman too often does his
work merely by the rule of thumb.
This last expression is used to de-
scribe practical rather than a scien-
tific method. 1t has often produced
| good results in the past, when guided
by sterling good sense and large ex-
perience; but the demands of modern
manufacturers and worldwide compe-
tition ncccsstate such niceness and ac-
curacy as are unattainablc by the rule
of thumb. The origin of this express
sion is said to be from the well-known
practice among women and peddlers OF
reckoning the thumbs breadth as one
inch in measuring. OF course no great
accuracy could attend this method Of
computation, and so now we apply the
phrase jestingly to any rough and
ready way of doing thing. There
was fine assurance of prevalent hon
esty about the old practice, though il
certainly laid buyers too much at the
mercy of willy peddlcrs. In this con-
nection we may mention the dishonest
practice of push thumb, said to have
been done by dishonest haberdashers
in measuring silks, ETC., by which the
yard was short of the length of the
thumbs first joint pushed in skillful
manner by the shopman when measur-
ing by the yardstick.
Thumbs, too, are essential helps to
oratory. 1t was SO in Quintilian' day,
| for he tells us of the various modes of
employing the fingers and thumb in or
atorical delivery. Many successful
| speaker or noted orator in these days
shows how much he depends upon its
aid during his address by perpetually
| tapping it with the forefingcr of the OPP
posite hand.
At every tap no doubt the thumb
frtx ont CT. <xf ii
quence, electrical, perhaps, in its ma
ture, and of course all the more calcu-
lated to powerfully affect the audience!
Then how many of our platform speak
ers have habit of putting the thumbs
into the arm holes of their vest, and
thus presenting bold front to their
auditory!
In times of persecution the poor
thumb has been made the vehicle for
experiencing torture by the use OF
"thumbkins," ''thumbiekins," or the
"thumbscrew." This instrument for
COMPRISING the thumbs was mich
used by the Spanish inquisitors, and it
was also used occasionally in Britain
when the object was to obtain confess
sion or observation-disclosures it caused
exquisite pain without endangering
the life of the victim.
General Dalzell brought thumbkins
into use in tortnring the poor Scotch
Covenanters. The last recorded in
stance of their application in the old
world was in the case of Principal
Carstairs, who in 1854 was effectually
tortured at the orders of the Scotch
Privy Council, with the view of making
him reveal the secrets of the Argyle
and Monmouth parties. The very
pair of thumbscrews which crushed
his thumb bone and caused his arms to
swell to the shoulders are still preserv-
ed. When Carstairs was introduced to
King William after the revolution in
1858 the monarch is reported to have
inquired about the thumbkins.
II will some day show them to you,"
said the principal.
He obtained them from the new
Privy Council of Scotland.
II must try Them said the King.
II must put in my thumbs there. Now.
principal, turn the screw. Oh, not SO
gently; another turn; another. Stop!
stop! No more; no more! Another
turn, am afraid, would make me con-
fess any thing"
The thumb is a sine qua non to the
soldier. 1t is in the art military that it
assumes its greatest Importance. To
escape military service it has been
in all ages the practice to mutilate the
hand by cutting off the thumb. In an
cient Rome severe laws were passed to
prevent thumb mutilation, yet the prac-
tice had become so common in the time
of Theodosius that the word pol
troon, as synonyme for coward,
came into vogue. This word is COM
pounded Of police truncus, mutilated
in the thumb, and to-day. in our own
language, the word has place and the
same meaning-coward. To pull the
trigger of a musket, to handle the
sword, etc., the thumb is indispensable.
To thumbs, then, we may ascribe the
most glorious victories as well as the
most desolating wars of oppression.
True, then, tits ''thumbs make heroes. v
The snuff taker finds the thumb very
useful, as Shakespeare shows when
speaking of the fop of olden days Hen
ny Nv. l, 81:
| "Betwixt his finger and his thumb he held
pouncet box, which ever and anon
| He gave his nose"
So thumbs have something to do with
helping the revenue. Other more
significant gestures we might advert to
but we close by hoping this paper
will be well thumbed and by
quoting Fielding's words, which, though
applied to the renowned Tommy
Thumb, the son of CATER Thumb, are
applicable to the two-jointed digit:
"Say where's the mighty Thumb, our swort
and bucklers
Though gainst us men and giants league with
gods,
Yet Thumb alone is equal TO more Odds
London Telegraph.
Recently an old trunk was sold a
| 4 T.. g..